Middlesbrough Set To Sign West Ham Striker For £7 million

Championship side Middlesbrough have agreed a deal to sign West Ham youngster Ashley Fletcher, who has only been with the East London for one season.

After coming through the ranks at Manchester United, Fletcher never made a senior appearance for the Red Devils and was sent out on loan to League One side Barnsley in January 2016. During his 6-month loan spell, Fletcher only scored 4 goals in 20 league games, however, he crucially scored in the playoff semi-final against Walsall and got the opener against Millwall in the play-off final, with the Tykes eventually getting promoted to the Championship.

His time at Barnsley earned him an impressive reputation which turned West Ham’s attention to the Englishman, who was out of contract at United. Fletcher played 16 times in the Premier League last season, with 14 of these coming as a substitute. With such limited minutes on the pitch, he failed to score a league goal last season but did score against his old club Manchester United in the EFL cup in a 4-1 defeat away at Old Trafford.

Fletcher’s experience in the Premier League, Europa League and in the lower leagues of English football has made Garry Monk splash out a rumoured £7 million for the 21-year-old. A key problem for the Teeside club was their lack of goals last season and having already bought Britt Assombalonga for £15 million, Monk has continued to bolster his attacking options.

West Ham, who are currently at a training camp in Germany, have allowed Fletcher to speak with Middlesbrough and sort out terms on a new deal, with Slaven Bilic saying, “The step that he made from coming here as a no-name to being a player a lot of Championship clubs want is a big bonus for him so he went to discuss personal terms.” Ultimately, the offer was “so good” that the club have had to accept it, with recent arrival Javier Hernández likely to reduce Fletcher’s game time further this upcoming season.